


Legend of Ender - The First Quest

by TrueEnder



Series: Legend of Ender [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Original Work
Genre: Alien Invasion, Aliens, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Chaos, F/M, Memes, Multiverse, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Rewrite, Self-Destruction, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Unique Solar System, cool weapons, did i mention the memes, honestly it barely even resembles the source material, this is just complete and utter chaos at this point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 16:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15911835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrueEnder/pseuds/TrueEnder
Summary: Let me tell you a tale.It is about a young hero, forced out of a life he knew, and into a wide world, full of things trying to kill him. Some succeed, most fail.But it is also about the ones who follow him, and, in equal measure, the shadow-cloaked demon waiting for him at the end.This is a story about that whole world. How it changes, how it creates...And how it destroys.--"Life isn't worth anything if you don't use it, so god damnit, you get right back up and FIGHT!"





	1. The Beginning of The End

You may be wondering, how did all of this get to this point?

Well, sit down, and let me tell you a tale. It's a long goddamn story, so you just sit tight and listen to this sonnet of betrayal, time travel, superpowers, loss and general mental breakdowns.

It began, as all good stories do, with an island. Floating in space.

What, were you expecting it to be not in space? Tough luck, that's where it is now.

It's this massive yellowy-coloured thing, floating out in orbit around [PLANET NAME REDACTED], in the middle of ass-nowhere, Paradox Space, I guess.

So, let's zoom in, take a look at whatever protagonist may be budding here. Maybe jump a few years back in time too.

Okay, there's our protagonist.

No, you dumbass, not that one. The guy behind him. The guy in front is going to die pretty soon, but nobody is supposed to know that yet.

Alright.

The stage is set.

Let's begin our tale.

* * *

 

A young boy wandered the streets of Einur (Yes, that's what the city is called. Deal with it.). This city was somewhere in the south of whatever this mysterious yellow island was. And by 'south' I mean 'the bit facing towards the planet'. He wasn't especially tall, standing just shy of five foot eight in stature, and with a pair of massive purple goggles strapped to the top of his head. He was rather plainly dressed, with a black shirt and matching trousers, and a dark grey shirt and darker trenchcoat over the top. Nobody paid any mind to him, of course: this was typical fashion around here, everybody owned a similar coat, each with their own detailed cut and coloured trimming.

An interesting note about this society is that there are different blood colours, but only as a technicality. All the colours are shades of purple, from lavender to magenta to royal, all the way to the deep, dark purple of our apparent protagonist. This dark shade marked him as a member of one of the more… disliked families.

This family was the Nightblades.

Nightblades were most known for their vast knowledge of other worlds. Or, as the other Clans put it, their capability to spout meaningless bullshit from off the tops of their heads.

Like I said, people don't really like them.

This particular young man's name was Ender, and he was the second son (first, if you don't count the dead older brother) in what was to be the last of the Nightblades. Eventually. Unless you're counting any post-canon developments that may occur.

Ender himself was fairly average. He was decently strong, able to haul obsidian crates like anyone his age (i.e. with only mild difficulty), and had a mild aptitude for magic, as his bloodline did. His weapon of choice ended up becoming twin blades, simply because he saw no need for defence when he could simply finish his opponent at whatever pace he felt like, be it fast or slow.

But one thing set him apart from so many others: a small scar, on his right hand, shaped like a three-pointed star. This scar was reminiscent of some old magic. Ancient, even. There was another who had a matching scar, but she was gone. Long gone, and he would likely never see her here again.

She had been his best friend. His only friend, once.

Then he met Palacen.

Herocryphe Palacen (who was generally just referred to as Palacen) was a picture-perfect example of his clan: strong, brave, and loyal to a fault. He would sooner end his life than let a friend come to harm. And said friend he found in Ender. The most popular kid ever, hanging out with one of the most rejected and overlooked guys anyone had ever attempted to avoid laying eyes on. It was enough to make heads turn, at least for a while.

At the time, Ender was following Palacen to the Council Chamber. The Council was short a member due to his brother's recent death, and Ender was the next most qualified candidate. Or something to that effect.

He was brought before the dragon. The council stared down at him.

And with a roar, the dragon spewed darkened clouds around him, which slowly solidified, condensed into something small, round, and tangible. And only just small enough for him to hold it in one hand.

It was a small, purple orb.

As he reached out to grab it, he noted how it glowed with the same strange colour that made up his blood. It was a most curious occurrence, but he paid no heed to it, being only thirty-five-thousand (one year on the yellow rock lasts about 12.5 Earth minutes - this time measurement system will almost certainly never be used again) at the time. He had no idea what he was getting into.

He made contact with it.

In an instant, years' worth of knowledge flooded through his system. He instantly learned how to fight, how to lead, how to find, and how to destroy. Pure, unrelenting power coursed through his veins, being greedily absorbed by every part of his body, raising his inner strength higher than anyone had thought possible for someone like him. A liquid courage poured through his veins, steeling his nerves and lubricating his brain.

Then, as quickly as it had started, it was already over. The orb looked at him with a steely determination. It lay there, cold in his palm. A faint electrical tingle pulsed through every once in a while.

The dragon began to speak.

First came the standard "welcome to the ranks of the council" talk, and after that was the "don't do stupid shit" talk. He'd heard it all before. More than once.

Then the dragon looked Ender dead in the eyes.

There was something he wanted to say.

But it was at that moment that the ~~fire nation~~ Order attacked.

There was a massive shockwave, and the wall of the chamber collapsed.

In the hole were standing four figures. They were all clad in armor, and wore strange masks.

The first was tall, and muscular. Even though his face was obscured, you could feel the enraged snarl on his face from a mile away.

The second was a medium height, and very thin. He clearly didn't excel in physical combat, but he exuded an air of well-founded egotism.

The third was clearly female, and stood readily poised with a tall, white sceptre. Ender's newly-found instincts made it very clear that that stick was a bad stick.

But it was the fourth that drew his attention. Clad in dark gold plate mail, with a mask shaped like a horror. His eyes, barely visible, seemed to glow with a strange, eldritch power. It was as if this fourth member was possessed by something far more powerful than anyone could ever have imagined. He spoke in a smooth, deep voice, with a dark, demonic undertone to it.

"Hello. Time to die."

And it was at that time that all hell broke loose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, in the original, was under 200 words in length. Now it tops out a bit past a thousand.  
> Crazy, huh?
> 
> I've been meaning to get this on here for a long time, but I finally managed to get it done!
> 
> Anyways, see you next time.   
> Ender OUT!


	2. Ocean of Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The End's strongest are slaughtered by a new, mysterious evil.
> 
> An attacker shows his true colours.
> 
> A friend is sacrificed.
> 
> And the calm ocean is stained with deep, royal purple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, chapter 2. It's taken me a while to find a good time to post this, but I think this works.
> 
> IF YOU LIKE THIS STORY, THEN **SMASH** THAT LIKE BUTTON!!!11!!
> 
> ok sorry thats enough of that enjoy the story
> 
> oof

The whole island was falling apart.

Obsidian towers toppled and fell, crushing actually very few civilians, as they weren't stupid and either ran to the side or teleported out of the way. It didn't keep them alive for long though. The Third invader, with a wave of her arm, launched wave after wave of energy fireballs, incinerating crowd after crowd.

It was a slaughter.

As she laughed maniacally, she felt a sharp pain in her side. Upon looking down, she saw a spear. It was embedded in her abdomen, piercing her armor and stretching up, all the way through her heart.

She never even had time to scream as she fell into the jaws of death.

Upon retrieving his spear, an Enderlord who will as yet remain unnamed picked up the body of the fallen villain, and hurled it, along with the staff she held, towards the planet as hard as he could. Maybe, just maybe, something-

He never finished the thought, as his mind was assimilated by the Second invader. His mask resembled a nightmarish smile, filled with shark-like teeth, but still bearing some resemblance to human. His eyes glowed an unearthly green. This ethereal shade began to emanate from the eyes of the newly-possessed warrior. There was no more Lord. There was only Kronos.

The Collective turned to advance on the Council building.

* * *

**_The original story had "Info Chapters". These have been integrated in this version as these short Infoboxes. Sort of like a loading screen! These will contain mostly-plot-irrelevant details about this world. Keep them in mind!_ **

* * *

The dragon was slain.

There was no way around saying that, especially with his majestic black blood spilled across the too-bright stones of the council. The body was beaten to such a pulp, that it was barely recognizable, save for the dull black blood, a few errant scales, and the head which now sat in the hand of the First invader. His mask resembled the face of a wolf, but more monstrous, almost demonic. Fitting, for the man known and feared as the Chaos Demon.

The Third was dead. That much he knew. The Second had become stronger. And the Fourth had vanished from his side. Five to Seven were no more. He had seen to that himself.

He didn't know much, but he knew when a situation was hopeless.

Which is why he was so confused about why these little people hadn't run away yet.

Not that he'd let them. He'd kill them anyway for being cowards. But at least it would be better sport.

Most species had given up by this point. He'd killed the big creature in charge, and then they'd all cower in fear, bowing down to him, which was quickly followed by him killing all of them. As you can tell, Malladus was not the sharpest knife in the shed, as he was so often told. He never bothered to correct anyone. He much preferred to tear them open instead.

He didn't like words.

One of the bigger ones was telling the small one to run away. That wouldn't do at all.

"That's enough out of you."

Before they even had time to react, he was in front of him, and tore his head from his shoulders. It was a swift, clean motion, which actually resulted in a lot more mess that he'd know how to admit.

Another one down.

Easy.

Why were they here anyway?

Oh yeah. Mr Yellow over there had dragged them all across the universe for absolutely no reason. Prick.

Why did anyone even listen to him? He wasn't exactly the strongest. That was him. Not the smartest either, Kronos held that title. Magical power went to number Three, Hyperiate. Archery was the game of Five, Six was healing, and Seven was… weird.

Four had nothing special.

But of course, while pursuing this incredibly slow train of thought, he had failed to realize that his spine had been torn out of his body. Now he no longer felt anything. But he did notice with what was left of his brain that there was suddenly a lot of smoke.

As unfelt flames slowly consumed what was now left of his body, he felt a dark presence nearby.

Malladus could recognize darkness when he felt it. He didn't know where it was coming from, but he didn't like it.

And that was his final thought before his immortal soul split from his body for good, a raging phantom in search of its new host.

That's not the last we'll be seeing of him, I can assure you.

But it will be a long time until then. Surprisingly, getting killed takes a lot out of you.

* * *

_**The name "Ender" was not his birth name. His birth name was "Vharion". The "En-" titles are assigned to Lords only.** _

* * *

They were down to two. But the home team was now down to only three.

Before anyone was able to react, Palacen had jumped forth, killing the taller one, the Second, in a single swing of his great-axe.

It was too easy.

All at once, the Possessed had leapt from the shadows, a sure blow from his spear targeted straight for his vitals. Palacen had no way to dodge in time, so he simply braced himself until he felt a warm liquid splatter across his face.

The final unnamed Enderlord had jumped in the way, taking the blow for him.

There was no way he could survive with that.

But with a wave of his arms, the Third Enderlord triggered his own special power.

Self-destruction.

If he was going down, damn sure he was going to take every piece of the Collective down with him.

A hoarse laugh echoed through the area.

" _Do you really think this makes a difference? I am immortal! I am ETERNAL! I AM-_ "

Their bodies were disintegrated in a loud flash and a puff of light.

Palacen remained unscathed.

He stood to fight the final one.

* * *

  ** _The End is merely a space-based peninsula orbiting a large habitable planet in a binary star system. Nobody knows how it got up there, but everyone thinks it was aliens._**

* * *

 

"…"

" **At last…** "

" **There's my target.** "

His motives were noted immediately.

Ender remembered the instructions he had been given.

Get to the escape pods.

Flee to the planet below.

And before he knew how he had gotten there, there he was.

For but a second, he could have sworn that he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, as if guiding him. But when he looked behind, there was nobody there.

A ghost.

Gone like the wind.

* * *

_**Residents of the End have two main languages: English (Terran, really), which is spoken by a majority of the universe as well, and Endorian, which is an ancient language spoken by almost nobody.** _

* * *

The intruder showed no mercy.

As Palacen raised his axe, he only heard a single sentence.

" **You fool. You're only delaying the inevitable.**

**The child of prophecy has been decreed to be the one who shall lay waste to my realm.**

**But of course, it shall not be.**

**Now die.** "

And that was the last thing he heard before the Invader's blade flashed through the air, arcing towards him, through him, splitting his axe in half along the handle, and, in a flash, draining his body of all its vital fluids.

" **Too simple.** "

He looked to the side.

" **Of course. Down there, my pawn.** "

For he had sighted a small escape pod, flying hard and fast towards the mainland.

But only for a second, curiously enough, as it immediately vanished out of sight.

"…"

" **Follow.** "

"…Yes, sir."

Sonake Akemada blinked across to the mainland in less than an instant.

* * *

_**Enderfolk, if pure in species, dissolve in water at a fast rate. Hybrids, depending on their Percent, will burn before dissolution. Both processes are extremely painful, and the victim will remain conscious during all of it.** _

* * *

The pod was hurtling towards the planet faster than Ender's eyes could see. One minute the pod's shielded viewports were surrounded by the pale stone of the End, rapidly deteriorating without the Dragon's life-force to contain it, or the civilians' missions of retrieval to reconstruct it. The next he was hurtling through space, dropping from orbit with the momentum of an elephant dropped from the tallest mountain on Terra.

It was almost exhilarating, in a way. He was hurtling off, alone, having just witnessed his race murdered in front of him, on some grand adventure that he had no idea how far it would take him.

Impact. Before he knew what was happening, there was a warning flashing on the screen:

_Danger: Water surrounding pod. Do not evacuate._

Crap.

He hadn't experienced water first hand, but he knew it was dangerous.

But the pod was sinking. All of the viewports were coated in blue, bright light from the Sun filtering through the new, dense medium, slowly darkening to black.

Ender had only one option.

He opened the pod hatch.

Almost immediately, crystal blue water flooded in. Upon contact, Ender felt a flash of burning pain through his mind. His flesh was beginning to melt.

Looking through the rapidly-closing hole, he could see that the mainland was not incredibly far.

He could swim that.

Possibly.

Hopefully.

Jumping on top of the rapidly-sinking pod, he decided to simply chance it.

He leapt into the water.

Instantly, his body burned like it was on fire, his tissues dissolving into the water, his nerve endings being split and unmade one at a time. It was torture. He could feel every cell, every molecule of his body struggling to continue its motion.

He could no longer keep his eyes closed. His arms were losing their strength.

His fingers brushed the sand.

Finally, with what little energy he had left, he climbed up and onto the beach. Off the beach, onto the fresh green grass of the world below.

There was a rustle in a tree. He couldn't hear it.

The pod had sunk in its entirety. The water had consumed it. He didn't see it.

He was deaf. He was blind. He couldn't feel anything.

But his brain worked, even in its diminished state of being.

He was alive.

Ender passed out on the grass.

From a tree, a pair of magenta eyes regarded the corpse with sorrow and pain. In the darkness beneath the leaves, tears fell in rivulets down her face.

She had only just found him again.

She wasn't going to lose him so fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then. It's time for end notes.  
> Again.  
> Honestly, this bit isn't important, just go right back to browsing other, lower quality stories like I'm sure you are.  
> (No? that's just me? damn.)
> 
> Anyways, that about wraps this up!
> 
> ENDER OUT!


	3. And it all came tumbling down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ender recovers from his extreme blood loss.
> 
> Strange coma dreams occur.
> 
> Ender suffers from sudden apathy.
> 
> And the shadows come chasing after him.
> 
> All the while, a strange being watches from beyond a vast screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found this chapter fun to write, at the very least. It was cool to do.

The boy on the beach looked almost dead when she found him.

Most of his skin had been melted off, somehow, leaving diseased-looking purple flesh underneath. His legs were almost completely gone, and one of his eyes was fully exposed.

Thankfully, he seemed unconscious enough (dead enough?) that he didn't react to being moved off the grass and up, far away, to the nearby medical wing.

She had never seen this boy anywhere around before. It was as if he had suddenly fallen from the sky. But, by far, he wasn't the weirdest person she'd ever seen. There've been far weirder. Far, _far_ weirder. Like that one guy who stays up late at night every night making spaghetti on the roof for no real reason (and there was no reason, they had asked).  _That_  was weird.

He'd been comatose for about five days now, with no signs showing waking up. Not asleep, not quite awake, either.

Maybe he had something to do with all of those weird meteors that were all over the news in the last few days. That would make more sense than a lot of other things, to be entirely honest.

There had been more than a few dark clouds in the sky. It was mildly disconcerting, but nothing incredibly important. There had been black clouds before, and it wasn't a big deal. Probably just the volcano in the south acting up again.

In any case, it was probably a bad sign of some sort that those clouds began appearing right as he turned up by the beach.

* * *

_**Non-humans and hybrids have varying (and strange) reactions to certain substances.** _

* * *

In the dream plane, Ender could see certain things. It wasn't as if he was awake yet. He wasn't even aware he was still alive. But he could see things.

He couldn't make out voices, they were all a mess. Sounds blended together, lights shining far too bright, everything was just a colossal collage of chaos.

But some things could still be distinguished. Like the red line leading from where he could feel his hand might be, leading to a strange, purplish aura not too far away.

Or the crackling, blackened clouds so far above. They writhed like snakes in the sky, twisting like hurricanes through the sky, gnarled and glaring, whirling faster and faster.

They were staring at him. Into his soul.

His soul.

They could see him?

Seeing. He could see something now.

White. All white.

A new person, blocking the clouds from view. They were still watching, but it didn't really matter.

This person was interesting. Their aura, rapidly fading with his returning vitality, was white in colour, but for only a second, there was a strange black star on the inside, concealed. Like the bloom of a black flower, or a crystal of shadow.

It was gone now.

He was staring up at a bored-looking face. A girl, by the looks of it. She had black hair, brows eyes, and a stare dead enough to petrify a cockatrice.

"Oh good. You're awake."

And that's when the pain started.

It wasn't too much. Not more than he'd been in when he was making his mad water-based sprint with rapidly dissolving limbs, but still enough to make his face contort noticeably.

"Whoa, no moving for you. Only listening. Can you do that?"

Talking was sure to hurt, but he managed to get out a somewhat affirmative grunt.

"Good. Then let me explain. Here's the short version: you've been unconscious for five days, give or take, after I found you lying near the beach with critical injuries. What happened to cause that, by the way? What kind of acid bath did you take? Don't answer that, I can tell talking hurts. All things considered, you've made a miraculous recovery, somehow. Normally even the Doc's best healing salve takes a while to start working on injuries as bad as yours, but with you it just took instantly."

She quickly turned away. Due to his eyes still behaving (and resembling) acid-burnt blobs of gelatin, he wasn't quite able to make out what she was doing.

"Ah. Yeah, that makes sense."

She turned back to him.

"You're Enderfolk, aren't you?"

* * *

_**Hybrids do not have to be part human. There have been other crosses in the past, such as Ribbonwings (Bonefolk with Phantomlings).** _

* * *

They had failed to neutralize the threat.

Pathetic.

The king looked down upon the sole remaining warrior, eyes ablaze with dark fury, malice incarnate. A dripping shadow, condensed and solidified hatred. Calling it a monster would be far from appropriate. It was leagues beyond that.

It was a nightmare incarnate, and more.

His target was still alive. Worse, he had reached the mainland. And even worse, he had received the first of the first. The cursed twelve, the mage's jewels. This would never do.

It raised a claw-like appendage, and, curling it into some sort of primal fist, unleashed his fury on his slave's mind.

* * *

**Shadows have begun infecting the planet.**

* * *

It was a day later.

Another day too late to save them.

The shock was beginning to get to him. Everyone he had known was suddenly gone. Dead. Particles dissipated, vanished into the sub-ether.

He couldn't really feel bad about it. Sure, he was still holding to his promise of raining bloody vengeance upon the sole living perpetrator, as well as whoever commanded this, and maybe also anyone who got in the way of that. But he wasn't even angry.

It was sort of relieving.

It was weird. He had gone his entire life with those people. And now his memories were all that were left. And he was glad of it.

Nobody there had really liked him much, at least not anymore.

A vision pulsed through his mind. A boy with strange hair, bound to a glowing machine by pulsating cables. A symbol. Flat lines and circles. Curves, corners, points, two dimensions to three, to one, to three, to more.

And just like that it was gone. He was standing exactly where he was, staring blankly ahead.

Who was that?

What was that?

Now, of course, he had a sort of renewed purpose. That symbol didn't mean anything to him right now, but there was a sort of tugging feeling that someday it might save his life.

* * *

 

A boy hovered in the strange room, his viewport showing him the progression of events.

He smiled to himself.

Things were about to go down, and he was the mastermind of all of it.

He didn't care for good or evil – well, he did, but this lesser squabble didn't concern him all that much. It was all part of his plan.

He cast his view across the land, examining the locations of the future. A dense forest town, an eternal ocean, a land of shadows. A balloon, flying high in the sky, and a mountain cave so far down below. A chamber full of mysterious mechanisms and curious gadgets, and a dilapidated ghost town, in which nobody fully alive had set foot in years. A castle of shadows, a great plain, a forest pathway, a mountain in the sky, the depths of the void. But some of the places he knew they would go were places that he could not see himself.

He knew that things were on the verge of happening, but it was all he could do to keep quiet.

Just as he liked it.

* * *

After suffering a major headache midair, almost bringing him crashing to the ground, Sonake landed. He knew that They weren't very happy, but there was nothing he could do about it. His prey had eluded him, fleeing towards the planet like the coward he was, leaving him to trigger the explosive that blew the whole city to shreds.

So overall, yeah. Things weren't going to plan.

Until, of course, he saw his target standing right in front of him.

"Well, well. Luck herself shines on me today."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lacking energy rn ugh
> 
> dont expect another one too soon, this is all i had stockpiled  
> from here, i'm rewriting from scratch
> 
> anyways  
> ender OUT!


	4. Sandwich Funeral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A poor, innocent sandwich bites the dust.
> 
> Oh yeah, and a massive swordfight happens, but who cares about that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need to stop procrastinating my procrastination so hard that I end up doing my actual schoolwork instead of this. What is wrong with me?

It had taken a while for Ender to adjust to life in this new place.

But, of course, the peace wouldn’t last. That would just be _far_ too convenient.

He made it approximately two days before he found a note on the door of the building he had been assigned.

It read:

“Hey there, b1g her¤.  
N1ce j¤b rμnn1ng away and leav1ng every¤ne t¤ d1e. Real brave ¤f y¤μ.  
Meet me at the lake at dμsk. 1t's t1me t¤ f1n1sh what 1 started.  
-S.A.” 

Of course, he had no choice but to play along.

* * *

Dusk came, and the hero eventually found his way to the lake.

Sonake, the influencer that he is, managed to convince one of his “friends” to freeze the entire lake for at least a few inches, just to have a solid clearing in which to hold a battle.

But of course, that wasn’t really Sonake. We’re aware of this by now.

Not-Sonake obviously didn’t really expect him to show up, not because he was a coward, but because he was new, and probably didn’t know where the lake was.

He’d be impressed, if he wasn’t currently possessed.

Up on a nearby building, a girl sat singing a haunting melody. He didn’t know her all that well, but he knew at least two things about her.

One, she was basically the resident medic of this entire operation.

And two, she was hopelessly in love with him.

On some level, he was sad about that, because he already had a relationship going. But something was stopping him from really caring about either of them. A thick sludge, dense and heavy, constricting his brain in all but the most vital of ways.

But back to the battle.

It was time to duel.

* * *

The entire battle lasted but a single minute. It felt like longer.

It started with Ender rushing up towards Sonake, blue sparks flying as his purple blade clashed against his opponent’s dark red broadsword. Pushing apart, they both slid backwards on the ice. Ender lost his balance for a second, but quickly dug the metal heels of his boots into the ice to regain stability.

Reaching into his pocket, he felt the orb. It was glowing hotter than the Crystals, yet somehow not burning his hand. Simply holding it in his hand, he felt a change in his power.

He swung his blade in front of him and...

[BLACKPULSE]

The ice underneath his feet cracked and broke, not shattering entirely, as Sonake was flung by an unseen force into the side of the metal shed sitting by the side of the lake. It dented under the impact.

* * *

Far away, in a castle made of darkness, the king recoiled.

Of course, he was expecting the boy to have access to some kind of magic, otherwise he'd be no threat to his plans.

But for him to have the same aspect as himself... this was far worse than he had thought.

With a snarl of rage, he released a bolt of dark energy towards the battlefield.

* * *

Twenty seconds in. Ender used the new terrain on the ice to his advantage, launching himself blade-first towards a dazed Sonake.

But right as he was about to make contact, Sonake rolled out of the way, swinging his own blade at Ender's head (when did he pick it back up?)

Ender ducked, using the back wall to his advantage and landing a kick directly to Sonake's ribcage. He flew backwards, sliding across the ice, before regaining his footing by stabbing his blade downwards.

Somehow, this resulted in a massive wave of water, which froze in seconds, turning into what was essentially a miniature glacier. It had one side which was sloped skyward, and the other was a flat wall, with a couple of visibly confused fish trapped inside. The girl had stopped singing.

But back to the battle.

Thirty seconds. Sonake flew over the crest of the wave, performing a perfect backflip before kicking off of thin air into a reverse spinning slash. Ender barely had time to deflect the impact, but it blew his sword from his hand. He grasped the orb again, and a rush of power overtook him.

Forty seconds. His blade flew back into his hand, right as his opponent went for a stab to the gut. He dodged to the side, seemingly effortlessly. But he wasn’t expecting a counterattack, which knocked him flying across the lake. But with a final surge of power, Ender triggered something primal.

Fifty seconds. Ender dropped his own sword, in favour of picking up a block of ice to bludgeon Sonake with. In a single swing, his opponent’s sword was knocked from his grasp, with the opponent himself now trapped against the temporary glacier.

Fifty-five. Grabbing his opponent’s sword, he lunged, plunging the blood-red blade deep into his opponent’s spine, out through his heart, and then further into the ice. He pushed it up to the hilt.

But as he did that, he suddenly became aware of a more pressing concern.

His own sword was now protruding from his chest, which was bleeding heavily.

* * *

In the trees, a girl hidden from all eyes watched with horror, as her best friend was taken from her a second time.

Her hand began to burn with searing pain, glowing the strange magenta shade of her blood along the lines of a scar from long ago.

In a motion that was completely imperceptible, she pulled out her dagger, rushed the girl, and decapitated her. She hadn’t even blinked, and the hidden girl was back in the trees before even the wind blew the girl’s head rolling along the ice.

…is what she wanted to have done at the time.

In reality, she was paralysed by blinding pain, unable to perform any sort of vengeful manoeuver. She wasn’t going anywhere just yet.

* * *

At the one minute mark, several things happened at once.

First, Ender officially “died”.

Second, the girl snapped out of whatever trance she seemed to have been in, looking at her purple-stained hands with first confusion, then realisation, and finally horror.

Third, a mark on Ender’s hand began glowing that same unearthly purple, but with tinges of violent red.

And fourth, a ball of black energy hurtled out of the sky, colliding with Ender’s barely-undead body (which, let me remind you, was still blocking Sonake’s), causing a massive explosion of dark energy.

Fifth thing that happened was that a guy over somewhere else dropped a sandwich on the floor. He mourned his own loss that day. But that’s neither here nor there.

Back to this ball of dark energy, it blew both the girl and the dead killer clear of the lake, with the girl smacking into a tree with the hiding girl in it (causing her to fall), and the corpse of Sonake smashing clear through the metal shed. If he wasn’t dead before, he certainly was now.

Inside the ball, something bizarre was occurring. The original intention of the big evil guy’s attack was to revive Sonake as a shadow creature. However, the attack hit Ender instead, and right as he was in the process of crossing the boundary between life and death. This, combined with the scar on his hand binding his life back into his body, caused a natural property reversal, with catastrophic effects.

Said effects being, in no particular order: Ender’s shadow being ripped from his body and forced into its own, similar vessel; Ender psyche morphing into two entities, with the duplicate vanishing into… somewhere; and finally Ender himself being completely revitalised, before being promptly knocked unconscious by the sheer amount of stress being put on his body during that entire process.

His now-separated shadow hovered for a second, looking at his former host, before soaring off into the sky in a ball of black fire.

* * *

Ender woke with a splitting headache. Everyone around was either unconscious or dead (or invisible, but that’s not the point). This seemed to be the perfect time to make his escape.

He took one last look at his killer, the same girl who had helped him recover from near-fatal injuries. He would miss her, at least a little bit.

He shook his head, and sprinted into the forest beyond, unaware that he was being followed.

* * *

The funeral was the next day.

Sonake’s body was buried. No coffin, as there were none on hand. So they simply lowered his body into the earth, and left it there.

And, far away, someone else was playing a funeral march for a poor, poor sandwich.

* * *

**He’ll be back.**

* * *

Ender ran through the forest. There was nothing in it but trees and more trees, their leaves slashing at his face like blades, as he ran at speeds faster than any human could ever dare to dream to.

He had been running for an hour straight, fuelled only by adrenaline and regret.

He blinked, once, and immediately tripped over a rock. His immense speed caused him to go flying, crashing through several trees before coming to rest at the foot of a mountain. His final thought before falling unconscious a second time was “I really need to start looking where I’m going.”

And then he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see y'all next time
> 
> (damn, I say y'all a lot)


	5. Familial Dysfunction, feat. Zombies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ender wakes up from his collision and meets some new "friends".
> 
> An enemy reawakens.
> 
> And a sideless warrior gets very tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo guess what it was my birthday last week so that's cool
> 
> anyway here's a chapter

Ender awoke with a splitting headache and pain all along his spine and right side.

Of course, this was because he had effectively just run full-force into the side of a mountain, without stopping or bracing for impact. And that wasn’t counting the several decimated trees in his wake. This alone raised questions, as normally his running speed wasn’t enough to do such damage.

A human, by this point, would have turned to fine reddish paste, scattered generously along the path, and possibly also the mountainside. Ender had barely received a concussion, a shallow scalp wound that was bleeding slower than expected, and a couple scratches and bruises all over his body. Again, cause for concern, as running so far beyond his limit should have probably ripped his legs apart.

Checking the sky, he had been unconscious for a while. The largest moon was high, not quite reaching the peak of its path, but close. This meant that, since the battle was at dusk, and he had been running for about an hour, he had been “sleeping” for around two hours and a half.

Yikes. Time to keep moving. And slower this time. No use blowing a second crater into this mountainside.

* * *

**_Terra, the current main planet, has three moons and two suns. The day is 20 hours long, and the year is 400 days, split into 10 40-day months. Officially, “dusk” begins at 10:00 (00:00 N), so the current time is around 13:30 (3:30 N)._ **

**_This has no plot relevance, really. It's just providing a frame of reference._ **

* * *

He wandered along the mountain’s edge for roughly twenty minutes before finally finding a cave entrance at ground level. Looking inside with what little moonlight there was, there were no steep drop-offs or indicators of wild animals. It was pitch black, however.

Good thing that Enderfolk have innate night vision. Isn’t that convenient?

Walking a short distance in, he found a fork in the cave. Being too tired to carry on any further (dying, being revived and then running for an hour takes a lot out of you), he sat down there and fell asleep almost immediately.

He wasn’t awake long enough to hear a whispered “good night” from right next to him, coming from seemingly nowhere.

* * *

There had been a noise.

Someone had come into the cave.

Scratch that, two people. There were two breathing patterns. Heavy, so they were either tired or asleep.

Speaking of which, he was also tired.

He’d deal with the intruders in the morning.

* * *

Waking up on a cliff edge on an unfamiliar planet is a jarring experience, you must understand.

Thus, you can also understand why Conner had a mild heart attack upon returning to consciousness after being jumped by his “friends” and tossed away from the battle so as to not interfere.

Going over the facts, he had no idea where he was, no idea what had happened, and no idea how long it had been. Regardless, it was night-time here. So he gathered his energy and soared across the nearby landscape.

The cliff he had woken on was part of a mountain range. This range was interrupted at points by a wide river, which wove back and forth between the mountains (and, inexplicably, over the top of one), and eventually led into a very large lake. There were also a few towns and villages around, and a large camp at the bottom of the mountain.

That was all he could see before his flight began to stutter, forcing him to perform an emergency landing back on the cliff.

He quickly passed out from the exertion, falling back under for the second time that “day”.

* * *

**_Conner’s been unconscious for about ten days, but don’t tell him that._ **

* * *

Morning came, and Ender just barely had time to register a faint presence from nearby him vanish before hearing an unfamiliar, yet undoubtedly hostile, voice.

“Who are you, and why are you here?”

Glancing over, the voice had come from a young boy. This boy had bright red hair, highlighted in oranges and yellows, piercing orange eyes, and a ball of fire protruding from his palm, which was pointed straight at his head _wait what_

Obviously, his silence didn’t sit well with whoever this small child happened to be, as he waved his hand closer to his face threateningly.

“HEY! I’m talking to you! Tell me who you are, or this fireball’s going upside your-”

That was all he managed to say before an unseen force smashed into his ribcage, sending him hurtling off down the stone passageway.

Before the kid could get up and make a move for him, a flash of blue raced down the hallway, pinning him in place with a bolt of ice. The source was revealed to be… a second kid, this one with a white-and-blue colour scheme.

What did you expect?

“How many times do I have to say this: _don’t threaten random travellers with fiery death!_ This is the _third time this month that this has happened_! You deserved every bit of that. Don’t even try to complain.”

After screaming at his… brother? Roommate? He couldn’t tell. After screaming at him, he turned to Ender with an exasperated look on his face.

“So sorry about him. He tends to jump the gun a lot when it comes to strangers. My name is Frost, the blockhead is Blaze, and you are…?”

He thought for a second. Should he just give his title? His real name? …Title. It meant basically nothing now: he was the lord of a ruin.

“Ender. Ender NightBlade.”

The blue cat-person seemed content with that. Looking more closely, he could see blue streaks on his cheeks, like tiger stripes. Well, at least that answers that.

“Well, Ender, I hope you enjoyed your stay, but I recommend that you leave and head towards the camp just north of here. Otherwise my idiot brother may decide to jump you again.”

“Oi! I resent that! And I probably won’t… you don’t know.”

“You said that last time, and guess what happened?”

Leaving them to their arguing, Ender decided that that was his moment to leave.

Once again, he “failed to notice” a pair of eyes closely following behind him. Though, to be fair, nobody else could see her either.

Almost.

* * *

**_Ender’s name is not, in fact, Ender. It’s just that that’s how he introduces himself in full, so everyone automatically assumes that it’s his name and not a title. It’s too awkward to correct literally everyone, so he just goes with it._ **

* * *

It was dark.

Dark and cold.

Where was he?

Feeling around, he could only feel dirt and stone.

His chest felt wet. His back hurt. And his head was killing him, too.

What happened?

Memories came flooding back. A battle. A demon with purple eyes.

A sword driven all the way through his chest.

He had died.

But he was alive.

And full of rage.

He put out his hand, and blasted a crater out of his grave and into the night. It erupted in yellow light, shining down on him.

He was covered in dirt and blood, mostly his own. He had his armour on, but it was scratched and chipped all over. His skin was almost sheet white, with black veins crisscrossing across it. His eyes were still yellow, but the whites had turned a deep black. There was a hole clean through his chest cavity, long and thin, cutting through his heart and spine.

But he could move all the same.

Rising out of the pit, his instincts called him to the mountains.

There was work to be done.


End file.
